TGIFF Host Spot 1.27.12 - UFO Finish Report! Marissa's Sham and Snowy Day

Hi there, and welcome to this week's landing spot for TGIFF!

It was a clever idea that Laura and M-R had to develop a weekly link-up where the hosting responsibilities are divvied up to lighten the load. And this week it's my turn! If you want to explore Thank Goodness It's Finished Fridays further, here is its mother page: TGIFF.  

And please join in on the linky fun at the bottom 

if you have a recent finish to show off!!  :D

I actually have TWO finishes to report!!  ::happy dance::   First, let's have that UFO report, because that sucker's been flying around out there for a whole year.


Marissa's Moment

Yeah - I let her bring Clara along for our latest road trip
since nobody else could accompany us.

My black-loving, rocker-aspiring (heaven help me!) young teen stopped cold one time while following me through the local quilt store, and wonderingly exclaimed: "I love this!" and held up a very girly pastel charm pack. I don't know which of us was more astonished since it's so completely different from her normal tastes. What was a mother to say, other than, "We better buy it, then, huh!?" So we got 2 charm packs and some companion yardage that called to her - with no idea at all what we wanted to do with it, other than that she wanted it to cover her bed. 

I thought and considered, and never saw a pattern that seemed just right, and one night I woke up knowing what I wanted to try to do. The result was a fun pastel coverlet design that actually came out incredibly close to my mental image, with a pillow sham to accompany. Nicknamed "Marissa's Moment of Freakishness," that top was finally finished. But I really wanted to quilt it myself, and it sat another 6 months while I worked on other projects to develop some FMQ skills.


I finally felt brave enough to do the quilting on the sham. Wow! It came out so cool! This is the first time I tried the wool on top of the Hobbs Heirloom, and I love the effect of the double batting with intricate quilting. 

Marissa's Moment Pillow Sham - standard bed size

I "drew" in grass as I quilted the row of reverse yo-yo flowers. (The yo-yo's each have a little puff of stuffing in them, and since it's her quilt set and she felt strongly about not seeing their belly-button sides, I stitched them on backward.)  The hearts are surrounded with little loopy "petals".

At the top, after stitching in the ditch to separate each pinwheel (I just did the big squares, not every blade), I drew in elongated heart-shaped petals on the background pieces so that the prints would puff nicely. Then I did a pretty successful attempt at quilting "lace" above and below the row.

(You can see better on the back how I SID'd the pinwheels. Perfect effect altogether.)

Between the pinwheels and the flowers, I did a medium-sized meander with butterflies and a dragonfly appearing here and there.

I also quilted in a secret message. I thought it would take her forever to find it, but when I showed her the quilted sham top so she could choose the perfect buttons, her keen eyes saw that message right away. And she smiled oh-so-poignantly.  :D

In case you need help picking out that message. ;D

When all was quilted, I stitched sweet buttons on each pinwheel center. Wish they looked as good in the photos as in real life. Their luster is gorgeously pearlescent. I had left the quilting tails nice and long to use them before tucking tails away. 

I used Dawn's Quilt Corner Pillow Sham Tutorial to assemble the sham for a standard bed pillow. It screamed out that it wanted ruffles in the sweet pink print that matches the tiny flowers on that diagonal stripe print, or maybe eyelet ruffles, but I was commanded "NO RUFFLES!"  I did sneak in some pretty satin ivory cording when I sewed the envelope together. I mean - it had to have *something*!  And it turned out great. None of the ruffles that I'd want on it, but perfect for her own taste, and that's what matters most.

Now that I'm confident I can do the quilting I want, her quilt is up next on the fmq table! I'm only going to use one layer of batting, though, to keep better drape. While I *love* the effect of Tuscany on top of Heirloom, it's best reserved for pillows, table-toppers, and wallhangings because it's just not pliant. Going to try out the Tuscany wool alone since it's "washable." It was a little over the top paired with minky (see the second finish, below), but I expect an entirely different effect with a cotton back and denser quilting. (Still considering colored threads for some parts (like the butterflies) so they'll show up more on the prints, but at least I'm not scared of working with it.

Just a peek of the center of the quilt
(it's all assembled since this shot was snapped)

~*~ My second finish this week ~*~

A Snowy Day in the Woods

43" x 48"

I love this snuggly quilt! And it's MINE! I've been sewing over a year for other people and working on UFO after UFO. Well, this was a fresh break - NOT a UFO (yes! I bought a brand new kit that called out to me). And not long and laborious to make. And staying with me.  :D  

Horrid winter lighting - this one is better at showing the colors and fabrics.

I had fun with its quilting. Made some snowflake templates with Golden Threads papers and placed those as I pin-basted the layers together. I connected those with meandering that has what are supposed to be snowballs here and there. 

I stitched-in-the-ditch for the narrow stop border (using my walking foot - no way am I ready to do SID with free motion!!).  Had a hard time deciding what to do in the outer border until doodles during a CSI episode turned into some motifs suggestive of a snowball fight. Fun.  :)  So I used those. 

I wanted a luscious minky back, so I did that. I wanted to try the Tuscany Wool batt, so I did that. Wow, it's puffy! Wouldn't want that for everything, but for this sofa snuggler intended for January days, it's nice. And it's a fair chore to push that combination around with FMQ! I haven't washed it yet. With the wool, the washing is a bit more finicky, so I want to wait until it's used a while. I'll let y'all know how that goes, but it'll be a few weeks. 

And I ***love*** the binding. Such fun stripes on the bias like a fancy blue-and-red candy cane. I was really fussy about matching up the stripes as I joined strips together, and I'm thrilled with the end result. No glaring glitches here and there. With a minky back, there's no way I'm attaching binding my normal way. I almost always greatly prefer to sew it onto the front with my walking foot, then turn it to the back and stitch it down by hand. YOU do that with minky if you want. ;D   Instead, I sew it on to the back, then topstitched it carefully on the front by machine, all with my walking foot. Nice result. If this were a fancier quilt, I'd consider hand-stitching to the front side, but for this quilt that's not necessary at all. 

This shot actually shows the powder blue really true.

And Koko approves of the minky - I couldn't get him to move for the photo shoot of Marissa's sham!

Hope you have a great weekend, and please check out the finishes other folks are sharing below. We'd love to have you link a post of your own up if you have a recent finish to share!!

WIPs Jan 25, 2012 - UFO sighting! Catch it for TGIFF!

Quick! Look! It's a UFO! Catch it!

This one will be finished in time to report at this week's TGIFF (Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday), which will be hosted at my place this Friday. Come on by if you have a recent finish to show off! Got something really close? Put that binding on! Stitch that pillow up! Share your accomplishment. What I love most about Blogland is the inspiration to get things finished. :D

This newbie's still on schedule!

And this one's getting finished before it ever gets lauched into UFO-ness.  Woohoo!!












Thank you very much to Lee for hosting the most inspirational WIP Wednesdays and to Esther for WOW. These linkies have helped me stay focused on progressing forward always, and have led me to discover many fine fellow quilters!

WIPs Jan 18, 2011 - And "End Piracy, Not Liberty"

So, has anyone else had that "Oh, Yeah" moment when you go to look something up and hit the protest blackout by Wikipedia and other sites?


(a shout out before all the fun quilting show and tell below)

I love Google's campaign to help spread the word about the imminent legislation. I have never mixed politics with my blog, but this one affects our daily lives profoundly and will put an undue burden on U.S. businesses - especially the little ones like all the personally-owned quilt shops online that I love.

Won't you take a moment to consider this and at the very least "sign" Google's petition to Congress? It's fast and easy. If Facebook can help bring down a government in Egypt, social media can get Congress to realize some things are just too much.

Go to google.com and click on their Blackout image. Then, on the right you simply sign the petition electronically.

Here is what it is talking about:

More about SOPA and PIPA

Members of Congress are trying to do the right thing by going after pirates and counterfeiters but SOPA and PIPA are the wrong way to do it.

1. SOPA and PIPA would censor the Web

The U.S. government could order the blocking of sites using methods similar to those employed by China. Among other things, search engines could be forced to delete entire websites from their search results. That’s why 41 human rights organizations and 110 prominent law professors have expressed grave concerns about the bills.

2. SOPA and PIPA would be job-killers because they would create a new era of uncertainty for American business

Law-abiding U.S. internet companies would have to monitor everything users link to or upload or face the risk of time-consuming litigation. That’s why AOL, EBay, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo and Zynga wrote a letter to Congress saying these bills “pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job-creation.” It’s also why 55 of America’s most successful venture capitalists expressed concern that PIPA “would stifle investment in Internet services, throttle innovation, and hurt American competitiveness”. More than 204 entrepreneurs told Congress that PIPA and SOPA would “hurt economic growth and chill innovation”.

3. SOPA and PIPA wouldn’t stop piracy

To make matters worse, SOPA and PIPA won’t even work. The censorship regulations written into these bills won’t shut down pirate sites. These sites will just change their addresses and continue their criminal activities, while law-abiding companies will suffer high penalties for breaches they can’t possibly control.

There are effective ways to combat foreign “rogue” websites dedicated to copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting, while preserving the innovation and dynamism that have made the Internet such an important driver of American economic growth and job creation. Congress should consider alternatives like the OPEN Act, which takes targeted and focused steps to cut off the money supply from foreign pirate sites without making US companies censor the Web.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

So, here are my WIPs for the week:

FOUR flimsies going to the quilter right away - 

"Three Sisters" set. These were all a family collaboration over Christmas Break. Even Dad (my hubby) seriously worked on them! (and he's proud of his contribution)

Heather's Geometric, which has an *awesome* back of floating mitered squares in solid Bella black (used every last bit of the border leftovers to make those squares). She made this top herself during college breaks over the last two years. It was a fairly complicated paper piecing project, and we need closeups of those sections!  They're very cool!

The black on this is absolute. In real life, it looks like the shadowy part. Really stunning effect. 

Marissa's Moment is being quilted. The pillow sham's quilting is finished and the guides on the top are marked. Just 2 or so seams left on the fancy back and I can sandwich that for some serious attention this weekend.

I'm getting more and more comfortable with free motion work.  :)  

And I'm **almost** finished quilting Snowy Day!!

The back is a really pretty powder blue minkee that the camera can't capture. I'm trying out the washable Tuscany wool batt on this one. It's much plusher - like poly batting loft. Combined with the minkee, it makes for one very snuggly blanket-style quilt!

BOM work is also happening, but that's the subject of BOMs Away Mondays.  ;D

Occupy Your Sewing Room - Two Stealth Flimsies :D

It's all Flamingo Santa's fault!




I had planned on using my Occupy Day to whip up the Christmas gifts I want to do this year, but he said, "Naaa - you should work on this kit instead."

I was weak after a month of stressful health insanity with our poor kitty, culminating with an eye removal on Wednesday and my term project due on Thursday - tired of doing what had to be done, and needing to do something to replenish my batteries. Layered on top of being bummed that I didn't have a single thing to show for the Christmas Quilt Show and the fact that I had two untouched kits sitting in my stash room already. . .   I caved.  :D  And I'm so very glad I did. It was a perfect day.


And I now have TWO Christmas flimsies:


A Holly Jolly Snowman (made with the "Winter Welcome" pattern by Coach House Designs)

And A Snowy Day in the Woods (made with the Snow Days pattern by Janet Locey)

I'm a happy woman.